Where Islam spreads, freedom dies

I posted once before about how the migration and asylum experiences in the backgrounds of our political leaders set them apart from the mainstream of British society and made it difficult for them to empathise with ordinary Britons who feel they are being dispossessed of their country. In a recent speech he gave on asylum, Clegg shed further light on his family background:

I know from the experiences of my own family the openness at the heart of this nation. My Dutch mother spent part of her childhood in a prisoner of war camp in Indonesia. My father's mother fled the Russian Revolution and made her way across Europe. Neither had to seek refuge here – they were luckier than that, and both ended up marrying British husbands. But they nonetheless made their homes and built their lives in a welcoming Britain.

No doubt this has shaped his views on asylum:

Clegg paid tribute to the 1951 UN convention on refugees, saying it had saved millions of lives and adding that "the measure of any civilised society is how it treats the voiceless".